Pages

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Men's magazines on my mind

While trying to finally finish my articles for the second issue of Garage magazine (a new local men's rag), I've been now and then skimming through current and recent issues. These five below, though they may intersect on certain subjects, vary significantly on approach.

Though this is not a men's magazine, I bought it to see the section on Rei Kawakubo, but was more intrigued by Louise Bourgois' take on Helmut Lang's art.

The French take on Hollywood? Isabelle Huppert is one of my favorite actresses. The interview seems off, and so does the language of the articles I've leafed through. Does a French international magazine have to be half-and-half to satisfy a wider audience? Somehow even the editorials have that feel.

Now this is what I'm saying. I know we can't have all the articles translated, but...I guess this is what you get when a magazine goes all out.

Another Tyler Brûlé creation, also not only for men. It's really a concise journal of many things, big and small, happening from all over. A little notebook of information that's formatted like a website, or maybe a bento box, all ready for consumption.

This, I must say, is by far the best. For me at least because it is the most personal. It is a commercial magazine like the rest but the way the articles are written, the paper, the limited color plates, and the small talk on small menswear items and sundry things, all include you in the magazine. There are no editorials that alienate; nothing put up there as big and glaring as billboards. And there are more product shots. Meaning the magazine is a conversation, and even if you don't react, it is about you.

************

Before I return to work, here are two articles I wrote for Garage's premier issue:

For Green agreements, an excerpt: "Environmental awareness has become the new zeitgeist, the newest conversation piece, fad, and measure for coolness. It has outzenned zen, yoga, vegetarianism, and pilates, even beaten the trend of Hollywood celebrities adopting third world children. AIDS has been made passé. Eco-chic is now the next social requirement."

So what comprises the ideal men's magazine in my mind? Little by little I'll make it up...